2014/05/30: RTCC: Island states invoke IPCC report at climate negotiationsLow lying island countries at risk from sea level rise are pushing for tougher climate action ahead of Bonn talks Countries must take account of new research showing higher long-term sea level rise than previously expected, when they set new carbon emissions targets, a negotiating bloc of small island states said.

It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.]And the IAEA is now saying 40 years too.[Now some people are talking about a century or more. Sealing it in concrete for 500 years.]We'll see.At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.Meanwhile...It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?Do they have an agenda?Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?Do they want to write a good news story?Do they want to write a bad news story?Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?One fundamental question I would like to see answered:If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:

2014/05/29: PLNA: China Announces Nuclear Power Generation System for 2015China announced today the beginning of operations of a new generation of nuclear power reactors along the east coastline of this country next year. Reactors AP1000, brought here by a US company and improved by Chinese scientists, are currently being tested, and they expect to connect them to the electrical network by the end of 2015.

The food crisis is ongoing:

2014/05/28: WSWS: UK foodbank organizer says most recipients are working poorMore than a million people in the UK now reply on foodbanks in order to eat. This is the direct outcome of years of austerity measures, welfare cuts, energy price increases and low pay. Almost one million people were assisted by just one of the main foodbank providers last year, the Trussell Trust. According to their figures, 913,138 people, including 330,205 children, received three days' emergency food from their foodbanks in 2013-14 compared to 346,992 in 2012-13. This is close to triple the number helped in the previous year. The trust now operates 433 foodbanks nationwide with two more opened each week to meet demand. According to a recent survey, another 182,000 parcels of food are being donated each year by a further 45 foodbanks. In total there are now some 1,000 foodbanks in operation in the UK.

2014/05/29: ABC(Au): Fatter, faster and stronger oystersResearchers looking to develop a Sydney Rock Oyster which would grow fatter faster, have unwittingly discovered a strain that is immune to the diseases Q X and Winter Mortality. Q X which originates from Queensland has hit oyster leases in northern New South Wales, while Winter Mortality affects oysters in the state's cooler waters.

2014/05/27: BBC: Colossal peat bog discovered in CongoA vast peatland has been discovered in a remote part of Congo-Brazzaville. The bog covers an area the size of England and is thought to contain billions of tonnes of peat. Scientists say investigating the carbon-rich material could shed light on 10,000 years of environmental change in this little-studied region.

What's the State of the Oceans?

2014/05/28: CBC: Puffin population being monitored on east coastNumber of colourful seabirds has been dropping in recent years Researchers are keeping a close eye on puffin populations on the east coast this summer after a couple of rough years for the seabirds. In Maine, Atlantic puffins have been dying of starvation and breeding rates have been low.

2014/05/28: Resilience: The Bees' Needs[...] Burkle and many other ecologists have hypothesized that wild pollinators are key to speeding up the process by which burned forests bounce back from barrenness to fecundity.

And then there are the world's forests:

2014/05/26: PPP: 'Deforestation plagues ASEAN'Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have never been higher, but Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries are still failing to curb emissions created by heavy deforestation, according to a new report. Forest land in ASEAN countries declined by more than 6 per cent between 2010 and 2013, with land-use changes contributing to more than 75 per cent of the region's total greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC).

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

2014/05/30: BBC: Migration surge hits EU as thousands flock to ItalyThere has been a significant rise in the numbers of migrants reaching Europe in recent months, the BBC has learned. The number of people attempting the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa to Italy has risen sharply, says Frontex, the EU border agency. From January to April, 42,000 migrants were detected on these routes, with 25,650 of these crossing from Libya. Combined with seven other less busy routes, the total figure for this year is probably now about 60,000.

2014/05/30: BBerg: Hagel Says China's Actions in South China Sea DestabilizingU.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today spelled out a series of Chinese actions in parts of the disputed South China Sea and said they were destabilizing the region, drawing a rebuke from a Chinese General. While China has said it wants a "sea of peace, friendship and cooperation," in recent months it "has undertaken destabilizing, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea," Hagel said in prepared remarks at the annual Shangri-La security conference in Singapore.

2014/05/29: BBC: Shangri-La dialogue: Japan PM Abe to urge security roleJapan will push for a greater role in Asian security at a regional summit on Friday, in a move set to anger China. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to promote Japan as a counterbalance to China at the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. The summit involves the US and Asean countries, and comes amid territorial disputes in the South China Sea between China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Japan-China ties are also strained over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Tensions continue as the empire leans on Syria, Ukraine, Russia...:

2014/05/30: BBC: Ukraine makes part payment on Russian gas debtUkraine has paid part of its gas debt to Russia after talks between both sides and the European Union, says EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger. Reports suggest Ukraine has paid Gazprom $786m (£469m; 576m euros) of the $3.5bn Russia says it is owed.

2014/05/28: EUO: EU unveils plan to curb reliance on Russian gasThe EU has unveiled plans to reduce its reliance on Russian gas, with increased imports from Norway and energy efficiency at the top of its wish-list. Launching the European Commission's paper on European Energy Security on Wednesday (28 May), energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger told reporters that "in a time of crisis between Russia, Ukraine and EU ... energy independence has risen up the agenda and is a concern to all."

2014/05/27: EurActiv: Brussels, Kyiv diverge on gas talks resultsUkraine's state gas company, Naftogaz, said Tuesday (27 May) that no real progress was made with Russia's Gazprom over its gas debt, and on pricing, in talks in Berlin, aimed at settling a dispute that threatens to disrupt gas flows to western Europe. The statement seemed at odds with the EU's energy commissioner, who said Ukraine and Russia had made progress on price yesterday and his proposal for Ukraine to pay $2 billion of its debts by Thursday could pave the way for talks on Friday

Regarding the ongoing geopolitical shift:

2014/05/30: RT: Brave old (exceptionalist) world"I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being." So there it is, straight from the lion's mouth, as in US President Barack Obama. The rest are details: deadly details, as in the US military remaining "at the core" of the exceptional worldview; the Pentagon reserving for itself "the power to launch unilateral attacks when America's interests are directly threatened"; eight or nine proxy wars deployed in the immediate future with no end in sight; and the most startling admission - that the "fulcrum" of US foreign policy from now on will be to curb "aggression" by Russia and China.

2014/05/30: CPunch: Nuclear Brinksmanship -- Obama's ProtoWar Against Russia and ChinaRussia and China are both under attack by a multi-pronged U.S.-led 'proto-war' which could erupt into 'hot war' or even nuclear war. 'Protowar' or 'proto-warfare' is the term I have coined to describe the use of multiple methods intended to weaken, destabilize, and in the limit-case destroy a targeted government without the need to engage in direct military warfare. Protowar methods include threats against the targeted country; economic sanctions; military encirclement around its borders. cyber-warfare, drone warfare, and use of proxy forces from within or from outside the country for political and/or military action against the local government. U.S.-led protowars also invariably include propaganda campaigns against the targeted governments. The media campaigns are waged by the five giant media conglomerates which now control 90% of the U.S. media and which are directly linked to the U.S. foreign-policy establishment...

2014/05/27: NYT: Climate Change Doomed the Ancients by Eric H. ClineThis month, a report issued by a prominent military advisory board concluded that climate change posed a serious threat to America's national security. The authors, 16 retired high-ranking officers, warned that droughts, rising seas and extreme weather events, among other environmental threats, were already causing global "instability and conflict." But Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a stalwart believer that global warming is a "hoax," dismissed the report as a publicity stunt. Perhaps the senator needs a history lesson, because climate change has been leading to global conflict -- and even the collapse of civilizations -- for more than 3,000 years. Drought and famine led to internal rebellions in some societies and the sacking of others, as people fleeing hardship at home became conquerors abroad.

2014/05/27: BBerg: Greenpeace Boards Rig Heading for Norway's Northernmost DrillingActivists from environmental group Greenpeace boarded a Statoil ASA rig en route to drill Norway's northernmost exploration well in the Barents Sea, saying it's too close to the polar ice cap and a key nature reserve. The Transocean Spitsbergen rig won't resume its voyage to the Apollo prospect in the Hoop area or start drilling until about 10 activists have left the vessel, which is owned by Transocean Ltd., Statoil spokesman Oerjan Heradstveit said.

2014/05/28: EurActiv: Barroso warns Bulgaria on South StreamSpeaking after the EU summit held yesterday (27 May), Commission President José Manuel Barroso made it plain that the EU executive would impose infringements on Bulgaria regarding the Gazprom-favoured South Stream pipeline, the construction of which is about to begin in breach with EU laws.

2014/05/28: EurActiv: Bioenergy push needs land 'three times the size of the UK'A planned doubling in Europe's use of crops and wood for fuel, transport and heating by 2030 will leave a 70.2 million hectares (Mha) land footprint, equivalent to the combined size of Poland and Sweden, according to a new report by the Vienna University. In 2010, the global footprint from EU bioenergy demand equalled the total land area of a country the size of Sweden, says the paper 'A calculation of the EU bioenergy land footprint'.

Meanwhile in Australia:

2014/05/30: ABC(Au): The Greens say renewable energy bill will benefit the HunterThe New South Wales Greens are confident new jobs will be created in the Hunter Valley if state MPs back its legislation to transform the energy sector. The party has seized on the Baird Government's support for the national renewable energy target with a Bill calling for at least one 500 megawatt coal fired electricity generating unit to be shut down by 2017. It also wants sensible, science-based wind farm planning guidelines introduced.

Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change:

2014/06/01: ABC(Au): Pyne insists university deregulation will force fees downFederal Education Minister Christopher Pyne insists competition between universities will force student fees down under the Government's shake-up of the sector. In an email sent to staff on Friday, University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis said fees may have to rise by as much as 61 per cent in some courses as a result of funding cuts and deregulation announced in the federal budget. He told staff that students would get "nothing new for this increased debt".

2014/05/27: ABC(Au): Manus Island riot: G4S security briefing recording contradicts claims PNG police actions were 'unexpected'A recording of a G4S security briefing on Manus Island contradicts claims the company has made to both a Senate inquiry and an independent review of the violence which left one man dead and 62 injured in February. The recording was made on January 30, almost three weeks before the violence that left Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati, 23, dead. In it, G4S acting regional manager on Manus Island, John McCaffery, is heard to say that in the event of a violent incident there is a plan in place to hand over control of a compound to PNG's notorious police mobile squad.

The fight over coal seam gas continues:

2014/05/28: ABC(Au): New onshore gas developments on holdThe Victorian Government has banned new onshore gas development until it learns more about the industry's effect on the environment. Concern over the impact of a coal seam gas industry on farming and the environment, led the Government to ban it until next year. Now similar concerns have led the Minister for Energy and Resources, Russell Northe, to defer decisions on the exploration of onshore tight and shale gas.

2014/05/26: ABC(Au): Renewed call for CSG health risk assessmentsThe Australian Medical Association says despite urging government to be cautious about the potential health impacts from coal seam gas projects, little is being done to address the issue. It's been 12 months since the AMA called on state and federal governments to ensure all CSG proposals are subject to rigorous and independent health risk assessments.

After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:

2014/05/26: ABC(Au): Shires urged to plan for water needsShires in regional Western Australia need to plan their future water needs or they risk being forced to abandon their parks and gardens. That's according to Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management stormwater project officer Don Woodcock, who says action is needed now to protect against rising water prices.

The Federal and now the State Liberals are bent on trashing the hard won Tasmanian forest deal:

2014/05/31: ABC(Au): Claims forestry bill will not "tear up" peace dealThere are claims the Tasmanian Government's signature forestry bill will not deliver on the Liberals' key election promise to tear up the forest peace deal. The Government's Rebuilding the Forest Industry bill is before the Lower House and will be considered by the Legislative Council next week. Resources Minister Paul Harriss has told Parliament his bill would destroy the peace deal brokered by loggers, environmentalists and unions.

2014/05/30: RNE: AEMC wants fossil fuels to access same subsidies as renewablesThe Australian Energy Markets Commission has recommended a major dilution of the renewable energy target, or changing it to an "emissions target" that would allow "clean" fossil fuel generation such as gas to also attract subsidies. The AEMC, which sets the rules for the National Electricity Market, says the RET is "unsustainable" - mostly because the target cannot be met due to the repeated delays in investment caused by policy uncertainty.

2014/05/29: ABC(Au): Organic certifier defends role in GM court caseThe court case may have ended, but debate continues to rage between organic and GM farmers. A landmark judgement in Perth's Supreme Court has found zero tolerance of genetically modified material in organic food is unjustifiable. It's spurred the debate about federal regulation of GM crops.

2014/05/28: ABC(Au): Farmers should support Spencer case: QCA Queen's Counsel is urging farmers and farm lobby groups to get behind the Peter Spencer court case on property rights, carbon credits and land clearing. Spencer barrister Peter King says he can't think of another landmark case like this one that is testing the powers of the Commonwealth over a farmer's right to farm.

2014/05/28: ABC(Au): GM farmer wins landmark canola contamination case in WA Supreme CourtA farmer accused of contaminating his neighbour's crops with genetically modified canola has won a landmark case in the West Australian Supreme Court. The decision could have wide-reaching implications for the production of genetically modified crops in Australia. Michael Baxter was being sued by his neighbour, Steve Marsh, an organic certified farmer who alleged his farm in the Great Southern region was contaminated by GM material blown onto his property from Mr Baxter's land.

In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:

2014/05/27: CBC: Tony Clement claims cabinet secrecy over EU trade deal compensation$280 million set aside for Newfoundland and Labrador as part of adjustment package for fisheries Treasury Board President Tony Clement has invoked cabinet secrecy rules to avoid answering questions on hundreds of millions in federal funding earmarked to help Newfoundland and Labrador adjust to the Canada-European Union free trade deal. In what may be a first in government opacity, according to the written response tabled in the House Monday, even that description of the fund may constitute confidential information.

The abortion non-debate sputters on:

2014/05/27: CBC: Abortion clinic plan shut down mid-process, says federationPlan received recommendation from Medical Advisory Council, claims National Abortion Federation A proposal for a P.E.I.-based abortion service received initial approval before being shut down, says the National Abortion Federation. Proponents of a plan to develop a twice-monthly outpatient abortion clinic operating from a P.E.I. hospital say the plan received an initial recommendation from the province's Medical Advisory Council. But say the plan was quashed...

2014/05/28: CBC: Kinder Morgan oil storage plan for Burnaby criticizedPlan before NEB to expand existing pipeline capacity reroutes through sensitive areas Kinder Morgan is rerouting and expanding the capacity of its Trans Mountain pipeline, even as it faces concerns in Burnaby, B.C. about how it will store the oil that reaches the end of the line. The company is in the midst of a National Energy Board review of a $5.4-billion expansion of the pipeline, an Edmonton-to-Vancouver oil pipeline that has existed for 60 years.

Louisville Gas & Electric has been pouring coal ash wastewater into the Ohio River for years:

2014/05/29: TP:JR: Kentucky Utility Has Been Discharging Coal Ash Into Ohio River On A Daily Basis, Lawsuit AllegesTwo environmental groups are alleging that a Kentucky utility has been dumping coal ash into the Ohio River on an almost daily basis, based on time-lapse images that were taken over the course of a year. The Sierra Club and Earthjustice filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Louisville Gas & Electric, claiming that the utility has violated the Clean Water Act and a state permit that allowed the utility's Mill Creek Generating Station in Louisville an "occasional" discharge into the river. The lawsuit is based on time-lapse photos that were taken by a camera set up by Sierra Club members in front of the discharge site at the Mill Creek station.

Looks like the GOP is getting climate change messaging lessons from Luntz or some clone:

2014/05/28: BBerg: Chamber Study Predicts Obama Climate Rule Will Kill JobsThe nation's biggest business lobby says President Barack Obama's plan to tackle climate change could cost the U.S. economy $50 billion a year. Supporters predict it will create jobs and lower power bills. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Natural Resources Defense Council are both releasing economic impact studies this week, signaling that the political battle over the president's plan will be fought over dollars and cents. For Obama, the risk is the plan gets labeled a job-killer just as campaigns heat up for an election that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.

The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:

What comes after Capitalism?

2014/05/30: CPunch: Why Green Capitalism Will FailGreen capitalism is destined to fail: You can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results. We can't shop our way out of global warming nor are there technological magic wands that will save us. There is no alternative to a dramatic change in the organization of the global economy and consumption patterns.

2014/05/27: BBerg: BP Loses Bid to Stall Spill Payments During AppealBP Plc must pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damage claims while it seeks U.S. Supreme Court review of disputed payments in its $9.2 billion accord over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a court ruled. The U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected the U.K.-based energy company's request to maintain a temporary halt on payments to businesses that can't prove they were directly damaged by the spill.

Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:

2014/05/30: BBerg: Shell May Boost Internal Carbon Price as Emission Rules TightenRoyal Dutch Shell Plc may boost the internal carbon emissions price it uses for planning new projects if governments tighten climate rules, according to an executive in its emissions unit. Europe's biggest oil company budgets for future capital investment on the assumption it will pay $40 a metric ton for carbon emissions, according to Angus Gillespie, vice president of CO2. That's almost six times the current price for pollution rights in the European Union's carbon market, the world's biggest.

A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?

2014/05/26: BBerg: Shakeout Threatens Shale Patch as Frackers Go for BrokeThe U.S. shale patch is facing a shakeout as drillers struggle to keep pace with the relentless spending needed to get oil and gas out of the ground. Shale debt has almost doubled over the last four years while revenue has gained just 5.6 percent, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of 61 shale drillers. A dozen of those wildcatters are spending at least 10 percent of their sales on interest compared with Exxon Mobil Corp.'s 0.1 percent.

2014/05/29: BBerg: U.S. Solar Power Rises 79% as Home Panels Beat WarehousesHomeowners and developers installed 1.33 gigawatts of solar panels in the first quarter, the second-largest total on record, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Installation increased 79 percent from the same quarter a year earlier with utility-scale projects making up almost two-thirds of the total and homeowner demand surging, the Washington-based trade group said today in a statement. Total installations may reach 6.6 gigawatts this year, driven by residential rooftop systems and more than 12 gigawatts of utility projects under development, said Shayle Kann, vice president of research at Boston-based GTM Research, which publishes the quarterly market reports with SEIA. This was the first quarter when residential systems exceeded commercial and government solar.

2014/05/28: WNN: Exelon plants in questionThe future of three Exelon nuclear power plants is in question after they failed to secure a capacity payment that would have supported their operation in a difficult power market.

"The worst thing that can happen during the 1980s is not energy depletion, economic collapse, limited nuclear war, or conquest by a totalitarian government. As terrible as these catastrophes would be for us, they can be repaired within a few generations. The one process ongoing in the 1980s that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly that our descendents are least likely to forgive us." -E.O. Wilson, 1985

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